Thursday, March 21, 2013

Gothic Horror: The Fine Line Between the Formulaic and the Clichéd by Leigh M. Lane

Please Welcome to Cutis Anserina Leigh M. Lane

When the typical reader defines Gothic horror, often
the person will mention Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, and dark castles
enshrouded in fog and thunderstorms.
Perhaps ravens and stylistic prose might fall into the mix. Some might even add in vampires, werewolves,
or similar night-stalking beasts. When
it comes right down to it, however, the term “Gothic” is rather vague to many
people. Often, readers and writers alike
will classify a work as being Gothic without really knowing what elements
contribute to that classification.
Moreover, some authors will use the term loosely when categorizing their
works, filling them with timeworn clichés as opposed to actual Gothic essentials.

Obviously, Poe and Shelley are excellent examples of
the Gothic genre, although many of their Gothic-classified works do not meet
all of the criteria. Following are some
examples of their works that genuinely are Gothic horrors:

Frankenstein

“The Mortal
Immortal”

“The Fall
of the House of Usher”

“The Masque
of the Red Death”

What these works have in common are uses—or
relatable variations—of the essentials literary scholars agree must be included
in the genre. Among these are a castle
(although any large estate will do), a supernatural element, and an escape from
some type of defined evil (which typically occurs through some type of maze,
but can take place in any physically or emotionally binding location).

Many people will define Gothic as nearly any story
with dark themes, which is an incorrect interpretation of the genre. Bearing this in mind, consider a few other
words that have been defined inappropriately as Gothic:

“The Cask
of Amontillado”

“The Raven”

“The
Tell-Tale Heart”

In the case of “The Cask of Amontillado,” one might
compare the catacombs to a maze, although none of the characters escape any
type of evil through it. The story is
also absent of a castle, literally or metaphorically, and also contains no
supernatural elements. Similarly, “The
Raven” takes place in an unspecified location.
Although set during a dark and stormy night, that is the only element
readers can determine actually exists in the story. “The Tell-Tale Heart” is probably one of
Poe’s most grossly ill-identified “Gothic” work. The story contains no castle, no supernatural
element, no maze, and no dark or stormy backdrop. While it is one of Poe’s greatest works, it
is not, under the conventional definition, Gothic.

Unfortunately, many authors will attempt to write
Gothic horrors by including a dark element, a stormy night, insanity, or a nice
murder of ravens, and what they end up with is a clichéd attempt that falls
short of meeting any of the actual criteria.
By studying the genre and reading a vast array of actual Gothic works,
writers can avoid such pitfalls.

In my Gothic horror, Finding Poe, I use a combination of traditional elements to make
the work true to its genre. Written with
careful attention to Poe’s language, to story is a mindful tribute not only to
Edgar Allan Poe, but to the genre he helped to popularize.

About Finding
Poe:

In the wake of her husband's haunted death, Karina
must sift through the cryptic clues left behind in order to solve the mystery
behind his suicide--all of which point back to the elusive man and author,
Edgar Allan Poe.

Karina soon finds that reality, dream, and nightmare
have become fused into one as she journeys from a haunted lighthouse in New
England to Baltimore, where the only man who might know the answers to her many
questions resides.

But will she find her answers before insanity rips
her grip on reality for good? Might a
man she's never met hold the only key to a truth more shocking than even she
could have imagined?

About the author:

Leigh M. Lane has been writing for over twenty
years. She has ten published novels and twelve published short stories divided
among different genre-specific pseudonyms. She is married to editor Thomas B.
Lane, Jr. and currently resides in the beautiful mountains of western Montana.
Her traditional Gothic horror novel, Finding
Poe, was a finalist in the 2013 EPIC Awards in horror, and has also hit
Amazon's paid bestseller list.

Her other Leigh M. Lane novels include The Hidden Valley, inspired by Barker,
Bradbury, and King, World-Mart, a
tribute to Orwell, Serling, and Vonnegut, and the allegorical tale, Myths of Gods.

For more information about Leigh M. Lane and her
writing, visit her website at http://www.cerebralwriter.com.